A CARD FOR THE CAPTAIN

He's the inspirational war veteran who has raised more than £20 million for the NHS and now we can all thank him personally.  Captain Tom Moore's original target was just £1,000, later upped to £500,000 and since then smashed forty times over.  He completed his 100 garden laps on Thursday two weeks ahead of schedule, but you can still donate to his worthy cause here.

You can also wish Tom a happy 100th birthday by sending him a card.  His birthday is on April 30th and this is the address you'll need.

Captain Tom Moore
C/O Post Office Limited
67 Bedford Road
Marston Moretaine
Bedfordshire
MK43 0LA

Looking at what he's achieved already and growing calls for a knighthood, it stands a good chance that Captain Tom will still be opening his cards on 101st birthday.

"SO BE IT" SAYS QUARTERMASTER

John McDonnell told Sky News today that if the Equality and Human Rights Commission finds Labour institutionally anti-Semitic then "so be it".  He preambled this by lashing out at Labour moderates who the left are now blaming for the party's 2017 defeat.  Watch below.

When McDonnell says "so be it", what he means is that he, Corbyn and the left will take no responsibility whatsoever and lay the blame on the moderates.  As Peter Mandelson stated earlier today, the left are desperately trying to rewrite history.  The fact remains that anti-Semitism became rampant under Corbyn's leadership as did electoral failure.

ON THIS DAY IN 1979, CORBYN'S MATES...

The Provisional IRA detonated a huge bomb near the village of Bessbrook, Co Armagh.  The bomb was concealed in a Ford Transit van and wiped out a police patrol consisting of four RUC officers.

Earlier that morning the van had been hijacked south of the border and its dairy delivery driver held captive while the van was taken north.  Having been loaded with a bomb estimated to contain around 1,000 lbs of explosive the van was left parked at the side of Millvale Road.  The terrorists waited in bushes on a hillside overlooking the scene and waited for a patrol to pass by.  The next patrol to pass by was a two-vehicle RUC patrol from the joint RUC-Army barracks at Bessbrook Mill nearby.  The terrorists exploded the van by remote control as the lead vehicle passed alongside it.  The police Land Rover took the full force of the blast and its four occupants were killed instantly.  Eleven civilians travelling along the road at the time were also injured and nearby homes were damaged.  It was said that the explosion was heard up to three miles away.

A policeman travelling in the patrol car behind the Land Rover later described the aftermath of the explosion: "I looked up the road and could see one of the wheels of the Land Rover embedded in the boot of a car which had been travelling immediately in front of the Land Rover.  There was a man and he came running towards us carrying two children under his arms.  One of them I could see was bleeding badly.  I was looking for the Land Rover, but I couldn't see it".

The Land Rover had been obliterated in the explosion and debris scattered up to 400 yards away.  The remains of the four officers had to be identified through dental records and fingerprints.  The bomb was thought to be the largest of its kind deployed by the IRA up to that point.  It was also the biggest single loss of life inflicted on the RUC prior to the 1985 mortar attack on Newry police station.

Constables Paul Gray, Noel Webb, Richard Baird and Robert Lockhart

The four victims were all Protestants.  The youngest was Constable Paul Gray, a 25-year-old originally from Belfast.  He had only joined the RUC eight months earlier and at the time of the attack was due to be married two months later.  The eldest victim was Constable Robert Lockhart and he was also the newest recruit, having joined the force in November 1978.  The 44-year-old was a native of South Armagh and left a wife and three children.  His name was included on a memorial unveiled in 1986 alongside six other local Orangemen murdered by republican terrorists during the course of the Troubles.

The other two men killed were Noel Webb, 30, and Richard Baird, 28.  Constable Webb was a single man from Lurgan with 13 months service under his belt.  Constable Baird was known as 'Allen' and came from Scarva in County Down.  He was survived by his wife and two children and was the most experienced officer with three years of service.  The day after the funeral his younger brother applied to join the RUC and went on to serve for two decades.

In January 1981 a 27-year-old from the republican stronghold of Crossmaglen was found guilty of the four murders and seven other terror-related offences.  Patrick Traynor received life sentences for each murder and an additional 12 years for the other offences.

LISA'S ATTIC

The increasingly tedious Question Time continued last night, once again dominated by coronavirus.  At this point a question about Brexit (or anything else) would be quite welcome.  Literally the only point of interest last night was the background for Lisa Nandy's appearance.  Housebound media appearances have been a staple of this pandemic and have led to several talking points.  There were the gatecrashing children of Nandy's colleagues Anneliese Dodds and Jonathan Ashworth.  There were also the mysterious picture hooks behind Yvette Cooper.  It's also quite interesting to note that Keir Starmer seems reluctant to broadcast from inside his home.  Earlier this week he appeared on Robert Peston's show speaking from a dark street and spoke to Sky News from his back garden.  What's inside the house Keir???

The Shadow Foreign Secretary was taking no chances last night and hid herself away in the attic.  Smart move Lisa.

NICK'S GOT THE CLAP AND HE'S NOT HAPPY

Lots of MPs and celebs are very keen to have their NHS applause filmed and posted on social media.  They can barely contain their glee at being part of something so virtuous.  That is, it seems, except the new Shadow Home Secretary...

We can only imagine what happened immediately prior to 8pm in the Thomas-Symonds household, but there's some intensity in those eyes.  He's clapping, but he's not happy.

TWITTER'S ONE-WAY RACISM VERDICT

A fascinating Twitter thread was compiled by a grooming gang victim yesterday.  Rotherham survivor Ella Hill published details of a racist tweet she reported and the astonishing response she got from Twitter.

Thread 👇
I’m a Rotherham Grooming Gang survivor. One of thousands of girls targeted for rape because I’m white. Told by Twitter that “white people haven’t historically been oppressed.” We have. Please listen... #BelieveMe #Ibelieveher #journorequest

— Ella Hill (@EllaHillUK) April 15, 2020

The Hate Reporting Organisation told me that, “Twitter’s Hateful Conduct Policy only applies to protected groups: this includes races which have historically been marginalised and oppressed, which white people have not.” pic.twitter.com/7EXYGeZ0QB

— Ella Hill (@EllaHillUK) April 15, 2020

'Ella Hill' is a pseudonym, but her experiences are well documented.  She has writtten for The Independent and has conducted numerous interviews on YouTube including a one hour discussion here and a three hour discussion here.

A screenshot of the tweet she reported can be found below.  At the time of writing no action has been taken and the tweet is still up.

DIG FOR VICTORY

While chartered flights are currently bringing in a handful of Romanians to do fruit and veg picking jobs, this is the plea from the British agricultural industry to homegrown workers.  At a time when so many of us are laid off, stuck inside our homes or worse still unemployed, what better time is there to recruit British workers in such a crucial industry?  After all, there is nothing more important than the food on our plate.

Yes, it's hard work.  Yes, it's for the minimum wage.  And yes, it's seasonal.  But the sun is out and you'd be making a vital contribution to the national effort at a time when food shortages have never been more real.  A million people volunteered to help the NHS, so there's no reason why we can't dig for victory too.

For more information on how to apply for a job on a farm, please click here and/or here.

ANOTHER CONSPIRACY NUT EXPOSED

Marcus Ball

Another individual perpetuating the conspiracy theory about Boris Johnson is a fanatical Remainer with a vendetta against our Prime Minister.  Yesterday we reported on Labour's Andi Fox and the phoney conspiracy theory she shared on Twitter.  Marcus Ball has gone much further (see tweet below).

Speaking of timing, Marcus's shameful timing couldn't really be worse.  We are in the grip of a national emergency and the NHS is at the forefront of fighting it - meanwhile, he wants NHS staff to run around in a paper chase to entertain his daft egocentric conspiracy theory.  Needless to say his tweet didn't go down too well.  Among the many to respond was Piers Morgan who wrote: "Fuck off you stupid twat".

Ball was soon scrambling to defend his position and in a follow-up tweet insisted he was not calling NHS staff dishonest, only Boris Johnson who he labelled a 'known liar'.  He also released a video in which he repeated accusations that Boris is a serial liar, listing a number of alleged examples including Vote Leave's infamous £350 million a week claim.  This is the only basis he has for suggesting that the PM's hospitalisation was somehow staged.  He has no actual proof whatsoever.

So who is Marcus Ball anyway?  Well, he calls himself a 'social entrepreneur' and he campaigns against lying in politics, something that he wants outlawed.  No-one's arguing with that, but the company which he set up to fund his campaign wasn't originally called 'Stop Lying In Politics Ltd'.  It was founded in 2016 as 'Brexit Justice Ltd' and maintained this name until last September according to Companies House.

Ball's LinkedIn profile

In 2016 Ball was interviewed by Tom Slater of the Daily Express and admitted that he thought Leave voters were 'thick'.  Watch below.

While Ball claims to be non-partisan his campaign appears to be solely aimed at Boris Johnson.  He spent three years crowdfunding more than £300,000 to launch a private prosecution against Boris, only to see the case thrown out last August.  In his latest video he threatens more legal action, although his crowdfunding site is now on hold after having raised more than £450,000.  The Telegraph reported last May that Ball had used some of this cash to rent a plush London flat, as well as professional headshots, self-defence classes and anti-Brexit cupcakes!

Marcus Ball says he has a problem with lying politicians.  In actual fact he simply has a problem with Boris Johnson - and Brexit.

Ball laughing it up with fellow Remainer James O'Brien

FOX RETURNS TO DEBATE

The breath of fresh air that is actor Laurence Fox has returned to the political debate via TalkRadio.  Speaking to Kevin O'Sullivan earlier this week he began with a joke, saying that coronavirus is very good for the 98 'other' genders because it only seems to be men and women catching it.  The rest of the discussion is dedicated to the scourge of identity politics.  Watch below for the full 13 minute chat.

After deleting his Twitter account in February, Fox is now back with a new account and continuing to mock leftists using the hashtag #stunningandbrave.  Bravo, sir.

THE (FALLEN) EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

Anyone who thought that the hard left were going to slither away without a fight are clearly mistaken.  Corbyn and his Momentum footsoldiers haven't spent the last five years slowly infiltrating every corner of the party just to meekly give it away.  The leaking of the pro-Corbyn anti-Semitism report is proof of this.

The motivation for leaking the report is two-fold.  Its release aims to defend Corbyn and Corbynism by blaming moderates for everything that went wrong during his catastrophic leadership.  Secondly, it is to stoke fire in the belly of the left and create problems for Starmer's leadership.  Many in the left have responded by pretty much declaring war on the moderates.  As intended.

While petitions and tweets will have little impact by themselves, there is still a significant portion of the Parliamentary Labour Party that remain loyal to Corbyn.  Last week's purge of Corbynistas from the front bench doesn't change the arithmetic in Parliament.  There are currently more hard left Labour MPs than there have ever been and their joint statement released in the aftermath of the leak shows they intend to fight the moderates (see below, click to enlarge).

The language is clearly combative.  The word 'fight' is used twice, a word that Corbyn himself used repeatedly in the final months of his leadership.  His name is absent from the declaration, but there are plenty of close allies listed, including McDonnell, Abbott and Burgon.  The rest of the list is like a who's who of the new Parliamentary intake ie. those hard left candidates parachuted in at the last election to replace moderates purged during Corbyn's leadership.

While Corbyn may not be putting his name to documents or saying anything publicly, there is little doubt that he will be the unseen driving force behind the left's insurgency to come.  The looming battle between the two wings of the party will be a mirror image of what dogged him from 2015 to 2017.  The moderates are in charge now and the hard left are back to being the rebels.  One of the key advantages for Starmer is that thanks to his almost total exclusion of Corbyn loyalists from his front bench he will not suffer wave after wave of resignations like Corbyn did.  It's also worth noting that the only two Corbynistas kept on by Starmer in senior roles have not signed the above document.  Rebecca Long-Bailey (education) and Andy McDonald (employment rights) are presently toeing the line, but that's only to be expected so early into Starmer's leadership.  They've literally only just been appointed.

A couple of lesser frontbenchers are on the list.  Shadow ministers Rachael Maskell and Lloyd Russell-Moyle are not exactly known for being the sharpest tools though.  One is famed for a rant about 'saturating' the country with refugees, while the other is famed for such stupidity as grabbing the Parliamentary mace and ranting like a lunatic in his 2019 post-election speech.  Useful idiots to come?

LAVERY ATTACKS DAILY BRIEFS

Former Labour chairman Ian Lavery has tweeted that he is 'sick to death' of the government's daily briefings.  Funny, really, considering it was his own party that demanded these daily briefings in the first place.

If only Ian and his hard left chums were in power, we could have been having daily press briefings that looked like this...

NEC CHIEF PROMOTES FAKE CONSPIRACY

Labour's Andi Fox

The chair of Labour's governing National Executive Committee has shared a baseless Covid-19 conspiracy theory on Twitter.  Corbyn loyalist Andi Fox shared a tweet earlier this week that suggested the Prime Minister was not really suffering from coronavirus.  Fox is arguably the most powerful elected Labour official with the exception of Keir Starmer himself.  After the tweet was brought to the attention of the national media she locked down her Twitter account.  Below is a screen capture of the tweet taken before she made her account private.

The Independent quotes 'sources close to Fox' as saying she had retweeted this by 'accident'.  It's a lame excuse and one we've heard so many times before.  In actual fact the Boris conspiracy theory is quite popular on the loony left.  Only last week a Labour councillor in Leeds was forced to apologise after calling the PM's hospitalisation a 'publicity stunt'.  So what about the source of the claims in Fox's tweet?  All is not as it seems.

The original author of the tweet - Neil Waugh - describes himself as a 'left-wing socialist' and his priority in life appears to be the Palestinian cause.  He is followed on Twitter by hard left Labour MP Richard Burgon.  In the Boris conspiracy tweet he refers to the 'Dorset Eye' so nonchalantly as if to confer some kind of legitimacy.  However, the Dorset Eye is far from a reputable local news outlet.  It's a blog run by a couple called the Cridlands and it has a proven left-wing agenda.  This agenda includes defending Corbynistas from accusations of anti-Semitism.

Jason Cridland's Facebook account shows that he not only follows dozens of Labour pages, but also Marxist groups and anti-Tory pages too.  They include the following:

Terrible Tories

Anti Tory Memes

Tory Britain Exposed

Never Trust A Tory

FucktheTories

Boycott Tory Newspapers Now

Conservatives Are Destroying Our Future

The Tories Are Killing Britain

I Hate The Tories

Bournemouth Labour Women

South Dorset Young Labour

Dorset Socialists

Socialist Alternative London

Coventry Socialist Alternative

Coventry Labour Left

Kent Class War

The Marxist-Leninist

Marxist Student Federation

Momentum South West

United 4 Corbyn

He also follows a page called 'Labour Against The Witchhunt', an organisation that defends Labour activists accused of anti-Semitism, including those now expelled from the party such as Marc Wadsworth, Jackie Walker and Chris Williamson.  There is clearly nothing impartial about the Cridlands and their 'independent news media'.

Finally, and we've saved the best until last.  The conspiracy propagated by their website - tweeted so matter of factly by Neil Waugh and then retweeted by Andi Fox - has no basis in fact.  The Cridlands have now admitted that the names of the doctors were 'made up' and the article itself may well have been intended as 'satire'.  This was the statement they posted to the original article, which at the time of writing is still there and floating around the Twittersphere:

"We realise now that this article may well be satire.  The names have simply been made up.

Either way the point is that we have a PM who is perceived by millions as a liar and a government who have handled the Covid-19 crisis in a chaotic and often criminal way.

We do however apologise to those who may initially have believed that this article was 100% factual (without satirical substance)".

Not the best advert for a 'news site' is it?  And certainly not the sort of nonsense the chair of Labour's NEC should be spreading either.

Debbie and Jason Cridland, founders of the far left Dorset Eye

WHEN BORIS SLEDGED LAVERY

It was June 2017 and the general election was imminent.  The final leaders' debate had just taken place and BBC reporter Simon McCoy had caught up with Boris Johnson and Ian Lavery for their thoughts backstage.  Back in those days Boris was the Foreign Secretary, while Lavery was a shadow minister without portfolio.  What followed was an absolutely comical exchange between the pair that ended with Boris blowing a kiss at his Labour opponent.

Watch below, keep an eye on Boris and listen out for his description of Jeremy Corbyn as "weak as water".

Boris Johnson may not have used a food bank Ian, but it's highly doubtful his mortgage was paid off by the miners.  Just saying.

STARMER'S FIRST SHITSTORM

It didn't take long for Labour to run into trouble in the Starmer era did it?  The party's internal report into its own anti-Semitism problem has sparked a fresh round of fierce infighting.  The key problem with the report appears to be the motive behind it.  Rather than investigate allegations of institutional anti-Semitism, the Corbynista hierarchy have gone to extraordinary lengths to smear its accusers - primarily its own whistleblowers.

The report was initially intended to provide a defence in light of the Equality and Human Rights Commission investigation, but lawyers have advised the party not to submit it to the EHRC.  The leaking of the mammoth 851-page report could also create a number of legal problems for Labour.  It contains unredacted details of party members, including whistleblowers, some of whom have already threatened legal action.  The data leak also leaves the party open to huge fines from the UK's data watchdog.

The leak is a cynical move by Corbyn's supporters and born partially of spite, but also intended to defend his legacy, albeit the left's twisted perception of what that actually is.  Can it be a coincidence that it has happened less than two weeks into Keir Starmer's tenure, particularly given that Starmer has brutally purged Corbyn loyalists from the frontbenches?  The timing is also very apt given that only a few days ago Corbyn claimed he would have won the 2017 general election were it not for the internal challenges to his leadership - aka 'the coup'.  The report suggests that the 2017 election defeat was largely caused by party staff hostile to Corbyn, a somewhat odd conclusion for a report that is supposed to deal primarily with anti-Semitism.  Curiously, while the left is currently engaged in keyboard-tapping outrage over the report's content, the one person who is totally silent now is Corbyn himself.  Funny that, almost as if he lit the touchpaper and then strolled away.

Laughably, week two into their leadership, Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner have announced an urgent investigation... into the investigation.  This was their joint statement:

"We have seen a copy of an apparently internal report about the work of the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit in relation to antisemitism.  The content and the release of the report into the public domain raise a number of matters of serious concern.

We will therefore commission an urgent independent investigation into this matter.  This investigation will be instructed to look at three areas.  First, the background and circumstances in which the report was commissioned and the process involved. Second, the contents and wider culture and practices referred to in the report.  Third, the circumstances in which the report was put into the public domain.

We have also asked for immediate sight of any legal advice the Labour Party has already received about the report.

In the meantime, we ask everyone concerned to refrain from drawing conclusions before the investigation is complete and we will be asking the general secretary to put measures in place to protect the welfare of party members and party staff who are concerned or affected by this report".

JEZZA'S GREATEST CLANGERS

The On Demand News channel (formerly ITN) has released an awesome compilation video of Jeremy Corbyn's most cringeworthy moments.  Watch below for all the classics, from his awkward high five with Lady Nugee to his 'stupid woman' remark about Theresa May...

MOST SHARED: WEEK 260

On Thursday Keir Starmer revealed his full frontbench line-up, using almost half of the entire Parliamentary Labour Party to fill up the positions.  The sound of a barrel being scraped could be heard with some of the decisions.  Lloyd Russell-Moyle, Jess Phillips and Karl Turner were just some of the balloon heads appointed, but it was the appointment of Naz Shah that attracted the biggest controversy.  It was not so much the fact that she was appointed, but the nature of her appointment.  Naz will be the first ever Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion.

It sounds like a sick joke, but that's the brief Starmer has handed the woman who thought it was funny to suggest grooming gang victims should shut their mouths 'for the good of diversity'.  Starmer's role as Director of Public Prosecutions will come under greater scrutiny now and we can be sure that his own history in relation to the grooming gang cover-up will come home to roost, but from this appointment we can already see that the man has no shame.

This BTLP original was shared 2,433 times via the Facebook page.

ASHWORTH INTERVIEW GATECRASHED

Jon Ashworth and unexpected guest

For the second time in the space of a week a Labour frontbencher has been upstaged by their offspring.  On Monday it was the new Shadow Chancellor who was interrupted by her young daughter while giving an interview from home.  Yesterday it was Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth whose live broadcast was gatecrashed.  Watch below.

While Ashworth flails around like the halfwit we knew him to be, he references the infamous South Korea interview.  That's well worth a revisit...

With no end in sight to our lockdown we probably haven't seen the last of these unexpected cameos.

THE WEEK IN CARTOONS 5-11 MARCH 2020

05.04.20 - Bob Moran, Sunday Telegraph

05.04.20 - Scott Clissold, Sunday Express

05.04.20 - Morten Morland, Sunday Times

05.04.20 - Matt Pritchett, Sunday Telegraph

05.04.20 - Nick Newman, Sunday Times

06.04.20 - Steven Camley, The Herald

06.04.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

06.04.20 - Graeme Bandeira, Yorkshire Post

07.04.20 - Morten Morland, The Times

07.04.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

08.04.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

08.04.20 - Graeme Keyes, Irish Daily Mail

08.04.20 - Patrick Blower, Daily Telegraph

09.04.20 - Peter Brookes, The Times

10.04.20 - Christian Adams, Evening Standard

10.04.20 - Bob Moran, Daily Telegraph

10.04.20 - Graeme Keyes, Irish Daily Mail

11.04.20 - Nick Newman, The Spectator

RMT CHIEF SUSPENDED

Steve Hedley (left)

The assistant general secretary of the RMT trade union has been suspended after posting Facebook comments in which he said he would be "throwing a party" if Boris Johnson died.  Steve Hedley also wrote that he hoped "the whole cabinet of Tory bastards get it too".  Hedley's comments were made earlier this week during a discussion on his Facebook page about the PM having been taken into intensive care.  He was later condemned by senior figures in the RMT, including the union's president Michelle Rogers and his boss, the general secretary Mick Cash.  Hedley has now been suspended from his job, a role that reportedly pays a £100,000 salary.

A spokesperson for the Rail, Maritime and Transport union said: "Following a meeting of the union's National Executive a decision has been made to suspend Senior Assistant General Secretary Steve Hedley with immediate effect while a formal investigation takes place into his conduct".

The Daily Mail reports that Hedley also compared Boris Johnson to fascist dictators including Hitler and Mussolini.  When a friend pointed out that Boris was a human being, Hedley apparently responded: "Hitler, Mussolini and Franco were human beings too - would you use the same argument for them?  I take it it doesn’t extend to Hitler who killed millions but it does to Boris who helped kill 130,000 through Tory austerity policies".  He is then said to have posted the following statement: "Would those who are feeling sympathetic to Boris Johnson (partly responsible for 130,000 deaths by helping implement Tory austerity policies against the most vulnerable in society) because he’s human extend that sympathy to mourning Thatchers death as she had a family too?  If the answer is yes where if anywhere along the continuum do you stop Pinochet, Franco, Mussolini, or even Hitler?"

Prior to his suspension Hedley gave an interview to LBC Radio in which he discussed various issues with presenter Maajid Nawaz.  However, when Nawaz raised the topic of Boris Johnson the interview turned sour and Hedley hung up the phone.  Listen below.

An Irish republican originally from Londonderry, Hedley has history when it comes to vicious remarks towards Conservatives.  In a 2016 interview, again with LBC, he stated: "I think all the Tories are an absolute disgrace, they should be taken out and shot to be quite frank with you".  He wasn't suspended from the RMT then, or the Labour party.  Also deemed acceptable at the time was a picture he posted to his Facebook account in which he brandishes an automatic rifle whilst on a trip to Russia.

Steve Hedley in Russia

The Soviet cap badge he is wearing alludes to Hedley's passion for hard left politics.  A vehement supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, he is frequently pictured making raised fist salutes and has repeatedly called for the overthrow of capitalism.  He supports the prosecution of British troops and politicians over Bloody Sunday and has referred to Hugo Chavez as a 'great leader'.  In 2017 he tweeted an image of two Tory effigies hanging from a bridge in Manchester.  Last year he posed for a picture with his daughter at the grave of Italian Marxist hero Antonio Gramsci.  Another picture on his Facebook page shows him in his office surrounded by communist regalia, including a poster of Che Guevara and a bust of Lenin.  It's not clear if this is the same bust that sat on the office desk of one of his other idols, former RMT general secretary the late Bob Crow.

Also unclear at this present time is whether Hedley will face any action from the Labour party over his latest outburst.  He was previously suspended from the party in 2016, not for calling for the death of Tories, but for the comparatively innocuous crime of labelling Corbyn critics 'right-wing traitors'.  He was readmitted to the party in March 2017, but last November he was reportedly being probed again, this time over allegations of anti-Semitism.  Video footage of Hedley that emerged around that time showed him screaming abuse at a Jewish activist.  The footage was originally taken at a meeting in 2011 where Hedley was giving a speech entitled 'Palestine's fight for freedom'.  Hedley refers to the heckler as "a disgrace to the Jewish people" and a "modern day Nazi".

Hedley is also a staunch defender of the expelled former Labour MP Chris Williamson.  He has also voiced support for Marc Wadsworth, a Labour activist expelled from the party in 2018 over an alleged altercation with Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth.

Steve Hedley (centre) pictured with Labour's John McDonnell

Steve Hedley (centre) pictured with Labour's Ian Lavery and Rebecca Long-Bailey

Steve Hedley's office door

ON THIS DAY IN 1992, CORBYN'S MATES...

The Provisional IRA detonated a huge bomb in London's financial district, killing three people and injuring more than 90.  The bomb contained around 100lb of Semtex, the components for which had been shipped from South Armagh and assembled on the mainland.  The device was delivered in a white van and a warning was telephoned through twenty minutes before it exploded.  However, the location provided was the London Stock Exchange, approximately one mile from the Baltic Exchange where the van had been parked.

The bomb exploded at 21:20 and devastated the area, primarily the historic Grade II listed Baltic Exchange building.  Around 14 other buildings were seriously damaged, including two medieval churches.  The Times reported that it was the most powerful bomb to hit the capital since World War II.  The blast was heard by people across the city, including Prime Minister John Major who was in his study at 10 Downing Street.  A similar device exploded a few hours later in the early hours of Saturday morning, at the junction of Staples Corner in north London.  No injuries were reported.

The aftermath of the Baltic Exchange bombing

The Baltic Exchange bombing occurred the day after the 1992 General Election in which Gerry Adams had lost his West Belfast seat to the SDLP.  There was speculation that the bombing was carried out in revenge, but the attack had actually been planned months in advance and the election result was irrelevant.

The three dead included a 15-year-old girl, Danielle Carter.  She came from Laindon in Essex and had accompanied her father to the area as he returned a car he'd been using for business.  He had just driven the car into the basement car park of the Commercial Union building when the bomb exploded.  His daughter was waiting in a parked car on the street above.  The car took the full force of the blast, but miraculously three of the four occupants survived.  At a press conference Danielle's mother described the terrorists as "scum".  Her younger daughter had received facial injuries in the explosion and when she was asked what she wanted for Christmas that year she replied simply - "Danielle".

The first paramedic on the scene had tended to Danielle and tried to revive her.  Lauded as a national hero at the time, the 51-year-old never recovered from the experience and tried to kill himself several times.  Five months after the bombing he murdered his girlfriend and was later remanded to a psychiatric unit.

This plaque was installed in the side of the Gherkin building

49-year-old Tom Casey was the doorman stationed at the front entrance of the Baltic Exchange.  He was covering a shift for a colleague who was on holiday.  Tom would otherwise be stationed at the rear of the building.  He came from Dagenham and left a widow and four children.  The third victim was Paul Butt, 29, a stock broker at the Baltic Exchange who had been walking past at the time of the explosion.

The financial cost of the attack was estimated at somewhere between £700million and £800million.  The Baltic Exchange had to be demolished and is now the site of the oval-shaped skyscaper known as 'The Gherkin'.

MAAJID HUMILIATES BASTANI

Aaron Bastani and Maajid Nawaz

Commie journalist Aaron Bastani was forced into a humiliating apology last weekend over a tweet in which he labelled radio presenter Maajid Nawaz a 'former terrorist'.  Last December Bastani had responded to Nawaz's criticism of Jeremy Corbyn by tweeting that Nawaz was "literally a former terrorist".  Nawaz was once a member of the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir and served time in an Egyptian prison for his membership.  However, while the group is banned in many countries it is not considered a terrorist group in the UK and is not proscribed here.
Nawaz took legal action following Bastani's tweet and sued for defamation.  Last Friday Bastani issued the following public apology, including a commitment to donate to Nawaz's counter-extremism group Quilliam.

Bastani is the co-founder of hard left media outlet Novara Media, the same organisation that employs Ash Sarkar.  He espouses his own brand of communism, something he calls 'fully automated luxury communism'.  It is as daft as it sounds.

You may be familiar with Maajid Nawaz from his weekend slot on LBC Radio or regular appearances on Sky's The Pledge.  Having turned his back on Islamism he went on to form Quilliam, a think tank opposed to Islamist ideology.  In recent years Nawaz has become highly critical of the hard left and has called for a national inquiry into Muslim grooming gangs.  Much of his Twitter activity on Friday and Saturday was dedicated to rubbing Bastani's nose in it.  Glorious.

Further reading

Nawaz Calls For Grooming Gang Inquiry

Novara Editor Insults Our Troops

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